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Obscurity, much?/Anime and Manga
Please note this list is only for obscure anime that were initially created with either global interest or foreign markets in mind. If an anime is developed solely for the Japanese market unless it inverts this, it won't be placed within this list. Pokémon, Akira Toriyama, the Weekly Shonen Jump, and TV Tokyo have their own pages. Examples that were previously translated into English and/or released in North America *The Adventures of the Little Koala's English dub, which aired on Nick Jr. back in the 1980s, wasn't as widely received as Nick's other anime series and it shared the same amount of obscurity as other anime series aired on Nick Jr. It wasn't until Dragon Ball Z Kai began its Nicktoons run that Nick was able to acquire more well-known anime series (mainly Yu-Gi-Oh!). *''Akiba's Trip'' in anime form in Latin America since Funimation was on the production committee. *Astro Boy was once one of the most popular anime in the US. He still has a cult following, but there are a few works based on the manga that remain obscure. **The Canadian dub of the 1980s series, in contrast to the better-known American dub. **And then comes the 2009 film. Well, it technically isn't obscure, but it's known for being a less faithful adaptation than the previous anime. It took down Imagi, which filed for bankruptcy not too long after the film's release. **The American comic book- rather than translating the manga first time around, when the original anime was airing the rights-holders to the print media decided to go the Saban Moon route and remake it specifically for America. It's obscure nowadays, not only because the publisher to that lost the rights, but the manga was finally translated. *Attack on Titan: Junior High doesn't have as big a cult following as the manga it parodies. However, it ended up with an anime too, which in turn was dubbed by Funimation. *The Big O may be a cult hit in the United States (thanks to airing on Toonami and later Adult Swim), but if you live outside of North America, chances are it'll be obscure, unless you live in Australia. The obscurity in Japan initially led to its cancellation, but it was brought back thanks to the funding of Cartoon Network. While the titular robot became more popular in Japan thanks to Super Robot Wars, the anime itself is still obscure outside of North America and Australia. **The second season is this unless you live in Japan, North America, or Australia. *The Nelvana dub of Cardcaptor Sakura, due to a messy tangle of rights issues (the current Cardcaptor licensor in North America is NIS America). Any attempts to search it will either yield results for the Animax dub or the movie. *Corrector Yui only had 18 episodes released stateside and is semi-obscure, to boot. That amounts to only a handful of DVD volumes (all 18 episodes can be found on the cheap, at least before shipping and handling comes into play; if you take shipping and handling into account, get ready to shell out big sums of cash just to get all of the English-dubbed episodes on DVD). *Crayon Shin-chan has the Vitello and Phuuz dubs, which are completely obscure (but not completely forgotten). The Funimation dub used to fall under Pop culture, but is now semi-obscure with an outrageous cult following (part of the reason being a lot of the technology shown in the Funimation dub being outdated). *Due to its obscurity in the United States and Canada, it took until the 2010s for Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel to be released in any form over there, and only then due to Anime Sols stepping in and releasing it to DVD... which can hardly be obtained new anymore due to Anime Sols shutting its doors. What makes this worse is that the DVDs were released in limited print runs. *Very little of Cutey Honey is known in the US, aside from the original (courtesy of Discotek Media), New, and the non-Toei-animated Universe. *Prior to Spike Chunsoft revealing it to be part of the Danganronpa franchise / canon, Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer was this. *The Tokyopop version of the Deadman Wonderland manga is so obscure, it took the popularity of the anime to make the English version of the manga popular again (this time via Viz Media, thus putting Tokyopop's version into this trope). *Di Gi Charat does this three ways. Not helping is that only the original series has been license-rescued. The rest? Individual volumes aren't too bad (you can easily pay only $5 per volume just to get the entirety of Panyo Panyo), but if you're looking to collect every out-of-print Region 1 Di Gi Charat DVD that exists, get ready to shell out big sums of cash. *Digimon Frontier in the UK until British Digimon fans bombarded Manga Entertainment with hundreds of requests to have the show released. And boy, have they delivered. This is subverted in the rest of the West, though, thanks to Jetix. And this isn't the only Digimon example, as seen on TV Tokyo's own page. *Similar to the below bilibili example, if you live in Latin America, Dimension W is this thanks to Funimation being in the production committee- Funimation doesn't export their licenses to non-English-speaking regions. **Even with that, the license was cancelled in the UK as Anime Limited saw so little to value in the license that they didn't want it released. This, despite Toonami broadcasting it stateside. *Dororo got hit with this twice. First, the entire anime up until the 2010s in the US (that was when Anime Sols released it to DVD). Then Anime Sols' boxsets themselves became this due to none other than Discotek Media rescue-licensing the property. *Dragon Ball Super crashed Crunchyroll every Saturday when it aired in Japan due in no small part to the popularity of Dragon Ball Z. However, a possible English dub was this throughout 2015 and 2016 due to Toei Animation forcing licencors to make deals with TV networks for airings. Once Funimation got the license, they made a deal with Toonami first chance they could to avert this. *The Fire Force anime outside of Japan, China, and North America. Not only is bilibili in the production committee (see below), but Funimation as well, similar to Dimension W- bilibili doesn't export their properties outside Japan and China (Fire Force is one of the exceptions since they're not on top of the production committee), and Funimation doesn't export their licenses outside English-speaking regions. **However, for Latin America, this becomes more of a Downwards Funnel situation since the distributor Funimation sub-licensed the anime to does not deal with simulcast companies at all. *Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood got less ratings in Canada than in the US thanks to Super Channel. Sales of DVD releases by Funimation did slightly better than Super Channel airings, but then Funimation's license expired and went to Aniplex. **Not helping was that Edward Elric's English voice actor, Vic Mignogna, was ousted from Funimation for reasons we cannot discuss here. Needless to say, Funimation was sued over the entire debate. *Only the TV anime is all that's known of Guilty Crown in North America. *Hataraki Man teeter-tottered with this trope until it ended up in the hands of Sentai Filmworks imprint Maiden Japan in America. This is why the only physical release in America is on Blu-ray. *''IGPX'' had it hard in the early 2010s. On top of Bandai Entertainment closing its doors, Cartoon Network gave the anime The Write-off. Recently been subverted, when the Toonami staff found a loophole in the write-off, not to mention Discotek Media rescuing the property. **Even with that, Bandai's DVDs will still cost you a fortune. *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's OVA on both sides of the Pacific. Not helping is the North American distributor suffering through an extreme case of Bionix Bankruptcy and A.P.P.P. losing the distribution rights in Japan. That it got misplaced by the 2012 anime's Stardust Crusaders adaptation also made this worse. You can still get the DVDs, and individual volumes' prices are reasonable, but it'll take a lot of money just to get the whole series. *Lyrical Nanoha is a rare case where the Region 1 DVDs going out-of-print didn't make the anime obscure. That said, only the first two seasons were released by Geneon and Funimation (with a really cheap dub). However, the English-language production staff (save the voice actors) are completely forgotten (most likely due to the dub being too cheap to be produced under California labor laws). Want both seasons? Get ready to shell out big sums of cash. *Macross, aside from Robotech, Macross II, and Macross Plus, is somewhat obscure in America, due to a mess of legal issues. **Doesn't stop AKB0048 from being released in America, though. *Maple Town is the one true obscure anime among otakus. It aired on Nickelodeon for a while, long before the sale of the English dub when Saban Entertainment was sold to Disney. As of 2016, Disney no longer owns the rights. **Look at MyAnimeList.net. The main character has only 3 member favorites as of 2017. That's less than a seventh of Ruby's member favorites. **Its sequel Palm Town has it a little worse, due to an English dub not existing. *''Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou''. While Funimation acquired the anime in English-speaking territories, they only did so thanks to an agreement with bilibili, who holds the top spot in the production committee. Which means that this still applies to non-English-speakers outside of Japan and China. *Only the first season of Ojamajo Doremi was translated into English (if you live in North America). Doesn't help that the only home media releases in America were packaged with Doremi toys (and out-of-print, to boot). This, combined with America wanting more shonen concerning anime releases (either that, or Sailor Moon/Cardcaptor Sakura), makes the series fairly obscure. *One Piece does this two ways: Not many know of the 4Kids dub anymore (in fact, Toei barred 4Kids from licensing any more of their works due to the quality of the dub despite forcing 4Kids to dub One Piece against their will), and if they do, chances are they consider the Funimation dub better than 4Kids'. As for importing straight from Japan... the Japanese DVDs and Blu-rays are completely obscure outside of Japan (and this is enforced, as well). *The One-Punch Man webcomic outside Japan. The manga version and anime, however... *''Panda-Z: The Robonimation'' fell into this due to Bandai Entertainment- you guessed it- closing its doors. Some volumes- most notably the special editions of volume 1- can be picked up on the cheap... if it's the Region 1 version. The Beez Entertainment release? Get ready to shell out tons of cash just to get the whole series. *Rumiko Takahashi has a few examples of her own. It's not enough to fill her own page, but there still a few: **As popular as Urusei Yatsura is, the 2008 OVA is this outside of Japan. Also all of the OVAs in the UK. ***Even without being in obscurity, the show's popularity works against it. Individual volumes can be picked up between prices on the cheap to about the same price as a Naruto DVD. Either way, want to own the entire series? Get ready to shell out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. **''Ranma ½'' is similarly just as popular, if not more popular, in the US. That is, unless you're talking about the Nightmare! Incense of Spring Sleep OVA, or the live-action film. The videogames are also mostly unaccounted for, but that's another story entirely. **''Inuyasha'' reached Ranma-level popularity when it was exported to North America. It also helps that it was Takahashi's first serious action series. The youkai vibe didn't turn American viewers away, either. Then the Hungarian release. To the original broadcaster, the series is completely forgotten in Hungary. But for the rest of the country, it's semi-obscure. And if you want Animax to avert this, they're bust in Hungary making anime as a whole this over there. ***The only obscure Inuyasha releases (to America, at least) are the 2008 OVA, the light novels, the live-action film, and several videogames, mostly the WonderSwan games (justified since the console itself was obscure). As for the rest, Viz and Bandai picked up everything. **Only the manga and the main anime is all that's known of Maison Ikkoku in North America. The live-action films and OVAs are still obscure. Notable since The Final Chapter resolves everything. **Rin-ne, all thanks to Sentai licensing the anime. It may not be as obscure as other examples, but it's nowhere near Urusei Yatsura/''Ranma''/''Inuyasha''-level popularity. *Sailor Moon: The anime just barely averted this in North America, due to anime purists blasting ToonMakers' completely-American pilot into obscurity itself thanks to nothing more than no Japanese footage being used and said cartoon not being as faithful to the source material. The DiC dub is a little more well-known, but given that Viz Media re-dubbed the entire anime from scratch, get ready to shell out big bunches of cash to get whatever of the DiC dub was released to DVD. Some episodes from said dub can be found on the cheap, though. *Shuriken and Pleats only lasted two volumes. Combine that with it not getting an anime, and it's semi-obscure (but at least has a bigger internet following than Chloe). *Speed Racer hasn't had any new entries in Japan since Speed Racer X, after which Mach Go Go Go fell into obscurity. However, Speed's still big in America, and even then the last new animated Speed Racer material was for The Next Generation. *The Story of Saiunkoku. The fact that Geneon shut down its US operations just before they released it did not help either. Funimation eventually did release the first season on DVD as part of a deal with Geneon, but that was it. Oh, and get ready to shell out tons of cash just to get the whole series. *Name any pre-Transformers: Car Robots anime based on the Transformers franchise that got an English dub. Chances are the dub is completely obscure, if not completely forgotten, within America. Starting with Car Robots, this was averted. Examples which haven't been officially translated into English *Season Zero of Yu-Gi-Oh! ended up being a rare example of an unlicensed anime that actually inverted this. Unfortunately, unless you count the "joke translation" of the movie and a couple of episodes, the series never got dubbed into English. *Major, by virtue of being a sports manga, which rarely sell in the West. Averted with Major 2nd, due to its Crunchyroll simulcast. *If you see "bilibili" as the top name in an anime production committee, this trope is enforced by default- bilibili does not export their properties outside Japan and China. **And yet, series such as Space Patrol Luluco, Fire Force, and Akiba's Trip: The Animation managed to get a North American release (and even a dub), thanks to bilibili not being the top name in their production committees (though in the case of Akiba's Trip, it didn't end up releasing in Latin America anyway, see above). General *Almost anything from Kyoto Animation would be semi-obscure at best, unless it happens to be part of a major franchise. The studio itself averts this; in the wake of a tragedy that is their main building burning down (we won't discuss any specific details here, for obvious reasons), multiple animation companies, including Studio Trigger itself, have expressed support for Kyoto Animation. **''Nichijou'' (another KyoAni anime) inverts this in the West. Completely obscure in Japan as of 2019, yet high sales of the sub-only release in North America led Funimation to greenlight an English dub that was released in July of that year. On Blu-ray, to boot. Likely because Kadokawa saw the risks of an international Blu-ray release minimal due to the obscurity of the anime on the Japanese side. *Pick an Animax dub. Any dub. Pretty Rhythm, Azumanga Daioh, Cardcaptor Sakura, etc. Chances are you picked a completely-obscure (or at least a not-as-well-known) dub. Averted with the Animax dub of Cardcaptor Sakura, thanks to no other than NIS America picking it up for the English track on its DVDs. *This is why only the older anime (such as Discotek's releases) or the titles that are least likely to get subject to reverse-imports (such as Servamp and Nichijou; see above for the latter's case) get to see the Blu in North America unless the Japanese track is removed or allowed with forced English subtitles- more popular titles get subject to reverse-imports, something the Japanese does not want in order to protect domestic DVD sales. On the other hand, the risks of reverse-importing older series (such as Full Metal Panic!) are minimal, for obvious reasons. *Funimation acquired some pretty obscure titles, mostly from the now-defunct ADV and Geneon USA; it'd take an entire page to list the examples. *Some anime aired on Toonami are somewhat forgettable. However, Toonami itself averts this, to the point where Adult Swim gave it a reboot in 2012. *Magical girl anime series tend to get this from time to time, the few exceptions either becoming really popular outside Japan or being outright deconstructions of the whole genre. **True magical girl anime series produced since 2011 (save PreCure and reboots of older series) will have this trope pushed on them, thanks to Puella Magi Madoka Magica ending the concept that the true magical girl formula would be profitable. Before Madoka happened, Jewelpet (noted above) was planned to shift from a serious magical girl show to a comedic one (in fact, its Sunshine season was about to air just as Madoka happened), and Shugo Chara! sunk the franchise's last hope after Party!. When Madoka aired, it delivered the final blow to the true magical girl formula (which, as noted before, is now limited to PreCure and reboots). ***If Madoka didn't deliver the final blow to the true magical girl formula, then it was the popularity of Aikatsu! that brought the formula in. *Name any Sanrio franchise that isn't Hello Kitty, Show by Rock!!, or (as of January 2018) Sanrio Danshi, and eight times of ten, it will be obscure in America. *At this point, this can apply to Neon Alley, as they were replaced by a normal Viz Media website. *The Funimation Channel itself fell into obscurity (getting rebranded in the process). *Studio Trigger, despite becoming so popular that the first six Trigger anime series even got an English dub, has hints of this: **At least one of its shorts were never localized and thus the characters' only Western debut was in Space Patrol Luluco. **Miss Trigger herself in the West, prior to Space Patrol Luluco getting localized. **When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace: The light novels and manga adaptation never got an English release and thus are completely obscure in the Anglosphere, though the anime was licensed and even got an English dub. **Kill la Kill: Though the anime and OVA avert this, there's at least one character within the anime that became obscure thanks to being overlooked. **Little Witch Academia within Japan (prior to the TV anime, at least). LWA's sequel OVA was funded almost entirely by fans in the Anglosphere, and every LWA OVA (and the TV anime) has seen a dub, for the most part. *By the time 4Kids Entertainment declared bankruptcy in 2011, the only anime dubs done by them that were not the infamous One Piece dub, yet still known, were, as follows: Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sonic X, and Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (and that's only counting their anime licenses). However, Pokémon USA has since snatched up the rights to the Pokémon anime and 4Kids' Kirby license expired. Of these four, only Sonic X was snatched up by Saban Brands (and later, Discotek Media). **The main reason for 4Kids' bankruptcy was because of a lawsuit filed by TV Tokyo (yes, that TV Tokyo) over Yu-Gi-Oh!, whose license has since been acquired by 4K Media. *Anime in general in South Korea prior to the 1990s due to South Korea's historical ban on Japanese media. Think about it- the US only discouraged people from getting exposed to Japanese media prior to the Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II, while South Korea outright banned anything from Japan for decades after World War II. And while we're on this topic, the first anime the United States got was Astro Boy, dated from 1963. The first anime series South Korea got were from the 80s/90s and largely removed Japanese references from the dubs. Basically if it's Japanese and it relies too heavily on Japanese references, either it would be changed to Korean references in Korean dubs or banned entirely in South Korea. *Basically anything by Fujiko Fujio, if it's not Doraemon, would be this outside Asia. Aside from Doraemon, only a few series based off their work received English dubs that were popular in Asia: Ninja Hattori, Perman, and Chimpui. *Most of the anime licensed by Nozomi, if it wasn't already license-rescued (the case with Galaxy Angel, Martian Successor Nadesico, and Revolutionary Girl Utena, rescued from Bandai, ADV and Central Park Media respectively, not to mention the first Astro Boy anime), will be this. *Similarly, anything released by Discotek Media that either hasn't been previously license-rescued or is unrelated to Fist of the North Star will be this. This is averted with Cutie Honey, on account of the sequel being released before.